These Little Moments
by Serenity12
Summary: A series of short drabbles for Big Hero 6. Not linear and not necessarily all related, but I hope you enjoy them all the same! Will mainly focus on the Hamada family but I'm sure the rest of the gang will get some spotlight too! *formatting has been fixed!*
1. My Humans Are Broken

Mochi wasn't quite sure when it happened, or how, but seemingly out of the blue one day his human family did something quite peculiar; they stopped working.

Now, it had been many years since Mochi had stumbled upon this particular human den, lured by the sweet smell of sugar coated pasties that were so kindly collected for him in silver cans, but ever since he adopted the human woman and her two boys he had created a strict schedule for the household.

At 7:20 A.M. the woman was to wake up at Mochi's request, usually by his vocal command or occasionally by a gentle but stern pat to the face. This was done in an attempt for her to cease the annoying beeping that would emit from the small glowing box next to her bed around 7:30 if Mochi didn't wake her in time.

After this he was to be fed and given fresh water promptly at 7:45 A.M, but once this had been done Mochi allowed the woman to prepare food for her and her kin as well. (though sometimes the food she prepared for them was far superior to the tuna mixture he was given instead. He corrected this by demanding a portion of the higher quality meal, which he was of course granted)

After eating, the humans tended to scatter, off to hunt or do whatever it was they did in their spare time. Mochi, thoroughly exhausted at this point, would take his spot by the window where the sun tended to shine and take a nap in it's warmth. Somewhere around noon the woman would return from whatever she was doing downstairs, and dedicate her time to admiring and stroking him.

This was actually not something he initially insisted upon in his carefully crafted schedule, but as it was fairly enjoyable he made an exception for it.

The woman would then eat again, a portion of which was given to Mochi, and then disappear down the stairs. Then it was time for his daily duty of ridding the house of all vermin and insects, and once that was done he would once more take a well deserved nap.

The humans would all return that evening, they would eat, and then after staring at a glowing box him and the woman would go to bed again to repeat the cycle in the morning.

That was before his humans were broken, though.

Now the woman refused to get up at his bidding, sleeping until the absurd beeping filled the bedroom and persisted until she awoke.

Mochi's bowl went empty until well past noon, despite his many complaints, and the only food the woman made for herself was crunchy bread and a hot, bitter liquid she drank out of a mug. For the youngest boy she would make delicious flat pastries with liquid sugar on top, but for the first time Mochi wasn't given any portion of it all, and the boy would take the plate up to his room before he had a chance to steal a piece.

The older boy, oddly enough, didn't come to eat at all. Not for breakfast, or lunch, or dinner. Mochi never saw him join the rest of the kin, and after a few days he assumed that a larger animal must have made a meal of him.

It was sad, as the older boy had been enjoyable as far as humans go, but such was the cycle of life.

Still, ever since his gap was created in the family unit, his humans stopped following their schedule and became horrendous at following his commands. He really was at a loss of what to do.

On the third day of his humans malfunctioning, he was searching the house for prey (it was still his duty, after all) when he heard the woman in her bedroom. It strange, as his schedule had her downstairs during this time, but he supposed he should have been used to her rebellion by now. He went into the room to reprimand her when he saw that she was laying in bed again, but not sleeping as she normally would have.

Instead her body was quaking under her covers, ugly, blanching sounds barely hidden by her pillow. Liquid and mucus ran down her face, and that was when Mochi realized that his humans were truly not ignoring his schedule on purpose; they were simply incapable of doing so in their current malfunctioning state.

The only problem with this was that Mochi had limited human experience prior to adopting this family, and he didn't quite know how to fix them. So he did the only thing he could do; lay beside the woman and purr, as had delighted her so many times before. The ugly sounds she was making began to quiet, and after a bit she reached out a hand and began running her fingers through his fur. He kept purring, and eventually nuzzled against her body, to which she responded by pulling him closer and holding him to her.

Sometimes it was best to replace things when they got broken.

Not this time though.

No, Mochi would keep this human family, however broken it was; it was still, after all, his. So he would take care of them, and hopefully one day their lives would return to normal.

In the meantime, though, he took it upon himself to provide for the kin, gifting the woman with fresh mice meat on her bed every day so that she wouldn't need to hunt. Strangely enough, though, she kept collecting them in her silver cans instead of just eating them.

Humans were funny things.


	2. That's College

"Hey, Aunt Cass."

Tadashi flopped into his computer chair as he held the phone up to his ear, stretching his sore legs while he had the chance.

"No, I don't think I'll be home for dinner tonight. I'm sorry, I would have called earlier…"

His eyes glanced over to his project as his Aunt's concerned voice questioned him from the other line. He rubbed his eyes in exhaustion as he sighed.

"I know, I know…no…nothing's wrong…"

She was still pressing him for information, so Tadashi took a deep breath and calmed himself. He placed a hand over his eyes and rested for a moment, letting static fill the conversation before he finally mumbled into the phone.

"…I'm just really, really tired…no, just of everything right now. I can't get this project to work and I just feel like I'm running on empty…I _can't _just come home Aunt Cass, I've got to get this done, or at least make some substantial progress on it…yeah, I know…yeah, I'll eat…I promise. The school cafe stays open, I'll grab something from there."

He paused, scrunching his face in consideration, "…I dunno, I mean I could nap at my desk I guess, but I don't think that's a good idea, I might sleep through my alarm…Aunt Cass, you don't have to do that, you should be going to bed, I'll be _fine_."

She wasn't letting this one go. Tadashi gave one last longing look to his project, then to his jacket on the floor, wondering if it would make a good enough pillow.

"…ok, ok, you win. If you're sure you're all right calling me to wake me up, I'll take a 20 minute nap. That should be enough to get me through the night. Keep calling until I answer, ok? …yeah, I'll grab coffee when I go to the cafe later…ok…ok…thanks Aunt Cass. I appreciate it…love you too…talk to you in a bit. Ok, bye."

Tadashi hit the end button on his phone and rubbed his eyes; a nap probably wouldn't kill him. He gathered his jacket off the floor and bundled it up into a make-shift pillow, then laid his head down on his desk and made himself as comfortable as he could get.

This was exhausting.

This was draining him.

This was almost more than he could take.

That's college, though, and when he really thought about it, he still loved it. Even if it did drive him nearly insane.

For now, though, he slept. He was out so hard that he didn't even hear someone step into his corner of the lab and place a piping hot cup of coffee on his desk. By the time he woke up, the lab was empty.

He never did find out who it was.


	3. Fast and rare

Tadashi Hamada didn't date much in his youth. There was always something preoccupying his time, be it caring for his little brother, helping his Aunt in the family cafe, or dedicating his time to school work. Girls were a fascinating but distant thing to him that he simply didn't have time to explore; except for Olivia Harrison.

16 and confident, Olivia was a dark haired girl with honeyed eyes who loved participating in cross country running and excelled in advanced math classes. Her family had moved from England just a few months before meeting Tadashi, and he found it interesting how quickly she learned to adopt the areas dialect, turning her accent on and off at will. She all but forced herself into Tadashi's life, and before he realized what had happened, he was speaking to her every night before bed either through phone call or text message.

Their dates normally consisted of doing homework at one of their houses, but occasionally she was able to drag him away from everything long enough to go to a movie or jog through the park. She gave him a kiss in front of the lake his Aunt loved to take their picnics, and he never stood a chance.

Tadashi was wrapped around her little finger, the only priority coming before her being his family. They stayed as a happy couple for a good year and half, somehow learning to balance their relationship with their responsibilities; and though they didn't see each other terribly often, they made it work.

They had sex after a year of being together; she was his first, he was her second. They took every precaution to stay safe, and with gentle guidance Tadashi learned what exactly worked and didn't work when making love. 3 months into being sexually active, there was a pregnancy scare.

He wasn't sure how it happened; they were always so careful. There was always the possibility of a broken condom though, and Olivia admitted to missing taking her birth control by a day or so. They waited three long weeks, and just as it seemed their worst fears were confirmed, Olivia's cycle began.

That was, unfortunately, the breaking point of their relationship. The possibility of a child had forced the couple to look at their relationship in terms of durability, and Olivia realized that while she wanted to travel the world after high school, Tadashi would always stay where his family was. She wanted to eventually go back to England to settle down; he would likely always stay in San Fransokyo…

…and as much as she cared for him, there was a small part of her that whispered she wasn't ready to be with only one man for the rest of her life.

So she arranged a meeting with him at the park, and he knew as soon as he saw the look of torment on her face what was going to happen. She gave him a long, tight hug, and cried into his chest as she apologized over and over again, claiming that hurting him was the last thing she wanted, but felt she had to do this.

He tried to talk her out of it at first. Promises he couldn't keep kept falling out of his mouth, but she called his bluff every time and when she refused to look him in the eye anymore, he knew he had lost her.

So he did the only thing he could; Tadashi gave her one last hug, one last kiss on the head, and offered to pay for her taxi home. She didn't accept his money, but she did sit next to him while they waited for her taxi to arrive. She, in turn, offered for Tadashi to share the taxi with her, but he declined.

He took an hour walk back to the cafe, and gave a quiet and dignified explanation to his Aunt when she prodded him for what happened. She gave him a big hug and told him something that he never quite forgot.

"…all I can say is pain like that is fast, and it's rare. Oh Tadashi…you've got so much going for you, going _right. _I know it doesn't feel like it now, but this will all just be a bittersweet memory someday; you'll see."

He nodded even though he didn't agree, but of course Aunt Cass had been right. He may have cried in the shower that night, and the pain might have lingered for awhile, but it wasn't long before the gap she had left was filled with his family and college applications. He received his acceptance to the San Fransokyo Institute of Technology, and Olivia Harrison was the farthest thing from his mind.

Still, he remembered her, time to time. It was like Cass had said; the memory was sweet, but bitter.

The pain was fast through, and it was rare, hardly even acknowledged before his brother would cause mischief that Tadashi would have to solve, or his Aunt would call for his help handling the afternoon rush, or his student orientation details arrived in the mail.

In those moments he remembered that he had so much going to him, going _right; _and it was exactly where he wanted to be.


	4. Even Nerds Can Surf

Summer used to be Hiro's favorite time of the year; and why wouldn't it be? Outside it was warm and sunny, ice cream venders rounded every corner, and any responsibility he had towards school was a distant memory.

Now that he was was finally allowed his early graduation from high school, those responsibilities were permanent memories. Gone were the days of tedious work sheets and projects, of dimwitted peers who thought they were so much cooler than him just because they were legally allowed to drive a car; good riddance to all of it. The nightmare was behind him, and now Hiro had an eternal summer stretched before him.

It was going to be perfect.

Then his brother ruined it.

"Um, _what are you doing_?" Hiro made a show of tipping his sunglasses down to peer at his sibling, cautious as the older boy approached his carefully constructed lounging area with two surfboards in tow.

Tadashi only grinned at him and tossed a board down to Hiro's feet, forcing the teen to squirm out of the way to avoid being hit.

"Hey!"

"Time to get up, Bonehead! _I'm_ going to teach you how to surf."

Hiro stared at him, then glanced down to the surfboard at his feet, and gave a prompt snort of decline, "Um, yeah, that's ok."

With little regard he shoved the board away with his foot, regaining his lounging position as he readjusted his sunglasses, "Hey, though, if you want to go and look like an idiot by balancing on a piece of polystyrene foam in the water, be my guest."

"Ha, you're hilarious, wise-guy, but guess what…"

Before Hiro had a chance to give his traditional cheeky reply, he felt his world being thrown out of balance, his body suddenly hurdled over Tadashi's shoulder as his brother gave a quiet grunt of effort, followed shortly by his amused voice, "_I wasn't asking_!"

"Wha-hey-**put me down!**" Hiro reached for his glasses as they fell from his face, barely missing them as they brushed past his finger tips. He took to pounding his fists on his brothers back as he walked instead, surfboards dragging behind him, "What the hell, Tadashi!?"

"Hey!" Tadashi jumbled the small boy in reprimand, "Language, Hiro!"

"Language!? This is _kidnapping_!" Hiro desperately flailed his arms towards a young woman as she walked past, crying out, "Ma'am please, I don't know this man, **help me**!"

"Hiro, I'm hurt! You'd really disown your own brother?" Tadashi gave the stranger a playful smile as he continued to walk towards the ocean; the woman shook her head at the two of them but said nothing, leaving Hiro to his own defenses.

"Yeah, you wanna pull the brother card!?" Hiro was now attempting to somehow gain enough strength to push himself off of the boys shoulder, "I thought brothers were supposed to _respect personal boundaries! My boundaries are not being respected!" _

_"_Hm, yeah, well, I guess that's life." Without much fuss Tadashi dumped his brother unceremoniously into the ocean, watching with some enjoyment as the boy fell backwards into the waves. He paid the angry insults Hiro hurled at him upon returning to the surface with little concern, instead pulling the two surfboards out into the ocean to join them.

"Now then," Tadashi's index fingers pointed in expression as he spoke, collected as always, "the first rule of surfing is-"

"I'm _not_ doing this, Tadashi!" Hiro began to try and make his was back to shore, but was quickly pulled back as his brother grabbed him by the arm.

"Oh, come on Hiro! It'll be fun-"

"No, no it won't be 'fun'! 'Fun' is being back at my towel, with my laptop and some cheese fries, and not being forced to try and do some balancing act in an ocean that a bunch of kids have probably been peeing in all morning!"

As if to prove his point, a toddler boy with orange arm floats swam past them and, upon hearing Hiro's protesting against peeing in the water, gained a very guilty look and immediately turned to swim in the other direction.

Hiro glared and gestured towards the boys retreating back, shooting his brother a disgusted look as he went on, "You see!? I bet you we got peed on just now!"

Tadashi only rolled his eyes, his expression annoyingly amused as he gently pushed Hiro towards the floating surfboard, "Oh, you're just over-reacting. Tell you what, you give me one honest go at trying to surf, and I'll leave you alone for the rest of the day. Deal?"

Hiro narrowed his eyes suspiciously down at the surfboard bobbing before him, then turned his attention to his companion, contemplating the offer, "…hmm…throw in letting me drive the scooter, and I'll do it."

Tadashi gave a small shrug of his shoulders, "Ok, sure."

"Yes!"

"Once you're 16."

"Wait, what? Hey!"

Before he could protest, Hiro was lifted from the water and onto the board, his hands struggling to steady his balance as it teetered to and fro. Tadashi reached under the water and pulled up a cord with a velcro collar at the end, and almost made Hiro fall off the board when he grabbed his leg to securely fit he collar around his ankle.

"As I was saying," He continued as Hiro regained his balance, "the first rule of surfing is to always make sure your surf leash is on securely. You might be able to do without it when you get more experienced, but for now it's safer for everyone around you if you just keep it on."

"Psh, _ok_." The teenager rolled his eyes and sulked, hardly giving his brother any attention as he went on to explain the finer points of surfing. After a few moments Tadashi seemed to take notice of this and gave him a nudge on the arm.

"Oh, all right then Bonehead," He pulled his own board towards him and climbed on top of it, sitting as he gave Hiro a challenging stare, "I guess you're so smart that you don't need my help, so why don't you just give it a try right now. Go on, try to stand up on the board."

Hiro blinked, then returned the stare full force and huffed, "Ok, I will!"

Tadashi sat back and watched with a smile as the boy began to slowly attempt to stand on the board, his arm and leg shaking as he tried to keep his weight proportions equal, ultimately landing himself face first into the water. He could hear his brothers laughter even before he came up for air.

"Yeah, well, that was certainly impressive." Tadashi's grin seemed to know no bounds today, "Let's try actually staying on the board for more than 3 seconds this time, huh?"

Hiro gritted his teeth and grumbled as he climbed back onto the surfboard, shaking the water from his hair. He took a deep breath and began to attempt the challenge again, but hesitated as the rolling tides continued to hit his board.

"Gah!" He sat firmly again, agitated, "Well I could probably do it if this _stupid ocean_ would stop moving the board around!"

Without a word Tadashi reached over and steadied the board, lifting an eyebrow at him as if motioning him to continue. Hiro cleared his throat and began again, legs trembling…

and promptly fell backwards into the water.

He didn't hear laughter this time, but when his head bopped back above sea level, gasping for air, he got a good look at the smug expression his brother currently wore. It was enough to make him forget whatever deal the two had made, tearing off his surf collar in frustration.

"You know what!? Forget it! I don't care what you say, this is _stupid, _and besides what would you really know about surfing anyway!? I thought nerds only liked to _read textbooks_ and-and help _teachers_ grade their papers! Why would _you_ be any good at this?"

Tadashi's eyes, once sparkling with entertainment, began to dull as he watched the tantrum unfurl, darkening with disappointment, "…yeah, well, even _nerds_can surf, Hiro."

"Well then, prove it!"

Hiro was expecting some witty response, or some sort of patronizing lecture about how he needed to mature and not give up the moment something didn't work out for him, but instead Tadashi only turned away on his surfboard and began to paddle out further into the ocean, pausing only once he was in deeper waters. Hiro watched as a wave began to form, gaining momentum and size as it approached his brother, while Tadashi only sat and waited.

At last Tadashi turned around, laying his chest against the board, then in one fluid movement pushed himself up to a standing position as the wave came up to him, lifting him and the surfboard up with ease. Tadashi kept his knees bent and arms slightly out, starting out at a slow pace before he ducked lower and, as though the board suddenly grew a jet, gained speed as he turned and weaved alongside other surfers. Water sprayed in his wake, and he skidded his board across the top of the wave, much like grinding a skateboard along an object.

The wave overtook him at last, sending him and other surfers tumbling into its waters as it finally crashed and died out, but the damage was already done.

Hiro had never seen his brother look more cool than he did in that moment.

Tadashi gripped the floating foam above him as he pulled himself up from under the water, shaking his head from the sensation as he rubbed the salt water from his eyes.

"Hey, Tadashi!"

He looked up to see Hiro, sitting back on his surfboard with surf collar attached, a large grin spread across his face.

"Let's go over those rules again."


End file.
